Wood, wood composite and vinyl venetian blinds as well as plantation shutters are gaining in popularity especially for use in upscale homes and offices. While attractive, blinds tend to collect dust and cleaning can be cost prohibitive. Various designs adapted for the removal of dust from venetian blinds are well known in the art, most having fixed dust collecting fingers affixed to a frame. Customarily these “fingers” are passed between the slats of a venetian blind to first attract and then carry off dust. Although the extant devices directed to dusting blinds work, their use is a time consuming process because the duster's fingers have to be cleaned frequently as dust tends to bunch against the fingers on one side. If the dust is not frequently removed from the fingers, it will simply re-adhere to another portion of the blind. Obviously this may consume a great deal of the overall cleaning time. Additionally, existing devices are normally intended to clean only one type of blind with a particular slat spacing, while a homeowner may have several types of blinds or shutters with varying slat spacing to clean.
The introduction of plastic for simulated wood blinds has aggravated the problem of dust accumulation owing to plastics tendency to hold a static charge. What is needed is a dust removal tool that provides a way for a nonprofessional to quickly and easily clean the blinds whether of traditional wood, vinyl and newer composites that will lift dust away from a slats surface without re-depositing the dust elsewhere on the slat.